Retry
by miragedelgado
Summary: Death is not the end for Thaddeus Thawne.


_**Title:** Retry._

_**Author:** mirage_delgado._

_**Disclaimer:** Not mine. DC Comics owns all. (Except for Superboy. Maybe.)_

**[Start Craydl subroutine /imp53. Access DNA files: Thawne, Thaddeus.]**

**[File found. Initiate DNA re-sequencing procedure.] **

**[3...2...1...Procedure complete. Initiate cloning procedure.]**

**[Start Craydl subroutine /FCRR3. Access memory backup template: Thawne, Thaddeus. Accessing...]**

**[Data not found.]**

**[Retry access memory backup template. Searching...]**

**[...]**

**[...]**

**[Searching...file found. Begin backup memory upload.]**

Be born.

Breathe. Cry. Grow. Spend centuries growing. Slowly. Suffer through life, decelerated.

Learn.

Learn to run. Learn patience. Learn about history, technology, physics and speed. Learn about your twin. (WWBD? - What Would Bart Do? Something illogical.) Learn everything.

Be a good boy. Listen to your grandfather. **[Primary subdirective: Listen to Craydl.]** Be an unquestioning weapon. (Don't ask why.) Learn the mission: Disposal and replacement of Bart Allen/Impulse.

Learn hatred.

(Hate? Bart Allen? Yes. I hate Bart Allen! I _hate _him!) **[HATE/HATE/HATE/HATE/HATE...]**

**[Recognize error in mental conditioning. Correct error? Y/N?]**

**[N.] **

**[Hostile emotional response within accepted parameters. Continue? Y/N?] **

**[Y.]**

Start running.

**[Start Craydl subroutine /imp50. Temporal access: early twenty first century. Access granted.]**

Run into the past. Watch. Wait. (Wait for it!) Strike out at Bart. Underestimate him. And then lose.

**[Mission failure: Abort. Retry? Y/N? Y.]**

Watch. Wait. Strike. Don't underestimate him again.

**[Primary mission objective: replace Bart Allen/Impulse completed.]**

Succeed. (Finally!)

**[Awaiting new objective.]**

Live. Breathe. Grow. Learn. Start learning to live for yourself and maybe even learn how to...

**[Ignore primary subdirective. Y/N?]**

**[...]**

Do what now? Disobey Grandfather? Ask why?

**[Error.] **

(But is it really?)

**[Continue mission? Y/N?]**

Decide, if you can.

**[Y.]**

Run into the Speed Force. Take Mercury with you. (Don't personalize this by calling him Max.) Don't feel empathy. (And no matter what, don't ask why you're doing this.)

Ask why you're doing this.

**[Error.]**

Fail. Betray your lineage. Fail your grandfather. (Damn your logic! A weapon can't fail. It can only malfunction. Besides, I didn't fail you, old man! You failed me!)

**[Abort/Retry/Fail?]**

Fail. Oh, epic fail.

**[Abort. Action cancelled.]**

Flee. Run. Hide. Flee to anywhere but here. Run until exhausted. Hide in a place where no one knows Bart Allen.

Settle down in Europe. Rebuild yourself. Breathe. Cry. Grow. Spend months growing, at your own pace. Learn how to love life, decelerated.

Learn. Learn about laughter, joy, mercy and falling in love. Don't think about your twin. (What Would Bart Do? Who gives a shit!) Take joy in the small things. Ignore the subroutines playing in your head and take it all for-granted.

Wait one year.

Lose your speed. Feel the loss of power as keenly as that of a limb. Suffer through life, decelerated. Call yourself a cripple and cry. And then swallow your pride. Beg your artificial womb for help.

**[Start Craydl subroutine /FC107. Discover source of speed loss: Searching...]**

Find your stolen speed in Keystone. Recognize the thief?

**[Retrieve mission objective: Disposal and replacement of Bart Allen/Impulse.]**

[Correct mission parameters: Bart Allen/Flash.]

Regain it at all costs. Regain it by killing the Flash. (Yes. Kill Bart Allen! _Kill him!_)

**[KILL/KILL/KILL/KILL/KILL...]**

**[Recognize error: Subject overwriting mission parameters. Correct error? Y/N?]**

**[N.] **

**[Error. Initiate Craydl subroutine /FMA13. Memory reboot...Error.]**

**[Initiate new directive: manual override Craydl subroutine /FMA13. Override successful.] **

Outgrow the womb. Make it yours. Make it work for you.

Return to America. Lower yourself to work with incompetents and your inferiors. (Note to self: kill Slade as soon as possible.) Shoot up twice daily. Endanger the pretty girl scientist. Don't think about laughter, mercy and falling in love. Think about your twin and his reaction when he discovers you had your hands all over his bitch.

Watch. Wait. Strike out at Bart. Underestimate him. Experience deja vu all over again.

Recruit the Rogues. Lie often. ("We're changing the world, Cold.") Drain the Speed Force. Be the Fastest Man Alive. By any means necessary.

Laugh as he dies. Panic as your speed doesn't return. Run before they turn on you.

Get captured. And taunt. (What Did Bart Do? He died screaming like a little bitch, Wally.)

Freeze.

Spend infinity waiting. Breathe. Rage. Stare. Spend months immobilized, doing nothing at all. Get used to life, frozen. Forget. Forget about laughter, joy, mercy and falling in love. Think about what you will do if _-when-_ your speed returns. Make yourself promise you intend to keep. (What Will Thad Do? Fill some bodybags.)

Be patient. (Like I have a choice?) Wait for the lightning.

Begin life as Kid Zoom. (You can call me Zoooooom.) Revel in your returned speed. Teach them all better heroism through tragedy. Stab some people in the back. (Metaphorically.) Kill some children along the way, as promised. Kill the Flash! Don't let madness get the best of you.

Don't die. Don't die by flame or frost or reflected laser light.

**[Error.]**

Oops!

Be grateful you keep a backup of your memories on Craydl's hard drive.

**[Finish Craydl subroutine /imp53: cloning procedure complete.]**

**[Finish Craydl subroutine /FCRR3: backup memory upload complete]**

Be reborn.


End file.
